Teaching the basics of running via the experiences of an 83-year old man who has been running for over 45 years, including the completion of four marathons and training for a fifth marathon.

Monday, August 20, 2007

A change in strategy for running faster

Since I ran the half-marathon in April, I've been trying to increase my long slow distance pace. I've been doing this by just running faster, hoping that my body will adopt the higher speed as its normal speed.

However, I'm thinking of running another 5K on September 22, and I would like to break 30 minutes. To do that I would have to run a pace of 9:40 with no walking breaks. I'm thinking I should practice that pace during the next month so it will be something I'm familiar with. Thus, I think that on Saturdays I will run 3.1 miles at a pace of 9:35 and no walking breaks. I will run a restful mile before the 3.1 miles to warm up and a restful mile after the 3.1 miles to cool down. My other three runs will be similar to the runs I've been doing. In addition, I've been taking walking breaks during my five miles because of the heat, but with cooler weather coming up, I shouldn't need to take them.